Re: [Comp 99] Ok, two more questions

["Nizam Ahmed" <nizam_ahmed@REDACTED>]

bredon@hotmail.com wrote in message <812jme$usd$1@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>Hi, all :)
>
>  I have been re-reading the reviews (savoring the good, noting my weak
>points from the bad) and a couple of questions came up.  So, with
>apologies if I come off as whiny or defensive, as that is not my intent,
>here goes:
>
>
>1)  What, exactly, makes a work deriviative?  This was mentioned in a
>few cases, and has me curious.  AFAIK, there are no other games that
>actually use the 7 deadly sins as characters. Yes, there are games where
>you have to commit them ("Sins against Mimesis") and games where you
>have to collect objects representing them ("John's Fire Witch") but no
>others where you deal with the sins themselves.
>
>(N.B. I have not yet played "Perditions Flame")
>
>  To me, when B is deriviative of A, it means that B did the _exact same
>thing_ as A, but not as well.  I'm just curious about the yardstick
>other people use, and how far they take it..isn't there some classical
>argument about there only being 36 plots available in fiction? :)
>


Okay, you're referring to my review (*comp99* capsule reviews) here. Beat
the Devil is to Sins against Mimesis, Perditons Flames et al as the film
"Universal Soldier" is to "The Terminator", "Robocop", etc. It just feels
very familiar, even though the precise details may not be precisely the
same. Unfortunately, you happened to pick one of the few sets of themes
(Hell, 7 Deadly Sins) that has been used more than a couple of times in
recent interactive fiction. Unless something outstanding is produced (e.g.
"The Matrix" is basically a rehash of "Total Recall", John Woo films, and a
scattering of cyber-thrillers, but works because, well, I'm not exactly
sure) it will be damned by faint praise at best.

And sure enough, I rated it 5 out of 10.